A knife-wielding man, shot dead by Spanish police, had come out as gay and was contemplating suicide, reports quoting his ex-wife's testimony say.
Algerian Abdel Wahab Taib, 29, shouted in Arabic as he targeted a police station in a town south of Barcelona.
Police are treating the incident as a “terrorist attack” but a source close to the investigation told AFP they do not suspect any links to jihadism.
Police have searched Taib's home and questioned his former wife.
Relatives of the attacker are now considering suing the Catalan regional police for negligent conduct, their lawyer said.
‘Suicide by cop'
The ex-wife “said they had separated, that he had revealed his homosexuality and that he was disturbed about how that fits in with the Muslim religion” the source in the investigation said.
“We are putting this down to confusion, a suicide attempt. There are some who do it throwing themselves off a bridge, he opted for this method.”
The source said, “We're basing ourselves on his wife's testimony, who says he had not veered towards extremism.”
Spanish media report the separation began a year ago, and divorce papers were signed last Tuesday.
The woman's lawyer told reporters Taib was due to leave the family home soon. He also denied terrorism as the motive behind the attack, saying the Algerian was going through a personal crisis.
What happened?
Taib approached the police station in the town of Cornellà de Llobregat at 05:45 (03:45 GMT) on…
